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| - Duty Editor: Ben Sheppard Email: Ben.Sheppard@afp.com -- TOP STORIES -- + Global virus toll nears 68,000 + Italy ponders lifting restrictions + China frees rights lawyer after five years + Rooney criticizes pay-cut call Health-virus,WRAP ROME European nations hardest hit by the new coronavirus report encouraging signs in their fight against the deadly pandemic sweeping the globe as the United States braces for the "toughest" week ahead. 900 words 1930 GMT by Dmitry Zaks with Mariette le Roux in France and AFP bureaus. Picture. Graphic. Video Health-virus-Italy,lead ROME Italian officials say they may soon consider easing restrictions after seeing the daily coronavirus death toll plunge to the lowest in over two weeks. 600 words 2000 GMT by Dmitry Zaks. Picture. Video. Graphic We have also moved: Health-virus-Italy-pope China-rights-lawyer BEIJING A leading Chinese human rights lawyer has been released from prison after almost five years behind bars, his wife said. 600 words moved. File picture. File video Health-virus-Fbl-ENG-Pr-wages,WRAP LONDON Wayne Rooney criticises the government and the Premier League for placing footballers in a "no-win situation" over proposed pay cuts after players were urged to make sacrifices during the coronavirus crisis. 650 words moved by John Weaver. File picture - EUROPE -- Health-virus-Greece-immigration ATHENS Officials in Greece place a second migrant camp near Athens under lockdown after an Afghan resident tests positive for the coronavirus, the migration ministry says. 400 words moved by John Hadoulis. Picture. France-stabbing-Sudan,WRAP PARIS French police arrest a third Sudanese national in a terror probe into a knife attack in the country's southeast that left two people dead. 600 words moved by Guillaume Daudin and Katell Prigent. Picture Russia-crime MOSCOW A man in central Russia shoots dead five people for talking noisily at night under his windows, investigators say 200 words moved Health-virus-economy-Spain-Germany,lead BERLIN Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez urges the EU to issue "coronabonds," controversial pooled debt instruments to help the bloc's hardest hit countries fund their battle against the devastating economic impact of the pandemic. 700 words moved by Hui Min Neo Health-virus-France-religion LOURDES Shuttered by the coronavirus outbreak, France's Lourdes Roman Catholic shrine marks the start of "Holy Week", an event that normally draws millions of pilgrims every year, with not a soul in sight. 450 words moved by Thomas Rossi. File picture Health-virus-Italy-food,FOCUS NAPLES, Italy 'Solidarity baskets' laden with food are hanging off the rustic balconies of Naples to feed the growing number of poor during the coronavirus pandemic. 600 words moved by Arman Soldin and Giobanno Grezzi. Picture. Video Health-virus-Italy-testing,FOCUS ROBBIO, Italy The mayor of a pandemic-hit Italian town is trying to get everyone's blood tested in a controversial attempt to end weeks of confinement and finally get people back to work. Most Italian authorities wish he would stop. 600 words moved by Francesco Giliolo. Picture. Video Health-virus-France-hospitals,FOCUS PARIS With those worst hit by the virus facing an agonising death from asphyxia, palliative care specialists in France are struggling amid drug shortages to give victims the most humane end possible. 550 words moved by Brigitte Castelnau Health-virus-politics,FOCUS PARIS One day, the battle against the novel coronavirus will be won. But the world that emerges may look very different from the one we lived in before the pandemic began. 700 words moved by Didier Lauras -- AFRICA -- Health-virus-Angola,SCENE LUANDA "How can anyone stay home without anything to eat?" asks motorcycle taxi driver Garcia Landu out on the streets of the Angolan seaside capital of Luanda, openly defying government-imposed restrictions aimed at curbing the spread of the deadly coronavirus. 650 words moved by Daniel Garelo Pensador. Picture. Video -- MIDDLE EAST -- Health-virus-Libya-conflict TRIPOLI Mahmud Jibril, the former head of the Libyan rebel government that overthrew dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011, died of the coronavirus, his party says. 430 words moved. File Picture. File Video Health-virus-Iran-economy TEHRAN Iran says it will allow "low-risk" economic activities to resume from April 11 as its daily coronavirus infection rates slowed for a fifth straight day. 420 words moved. Picture. Video Health-virus-Mideast-drones AMMAN Jordan deploys drones against the coronavirus pandemic, joining other Middle Eastern countries that use the devices to enforce curfews, deliver public health messages and even measure people's body temperature with AI-enabled thermal cameras. 550 words moved. File Video. Video Health-virus-Lebanon-repatriation BEIRUT Lebanon starts repatriating nationals stranded abroad in its first flight in weeks since it closed its international airport to stem the novel coronavirus. 530 words moved. Picture. Video -- AMERICAS -- Health-virus-US NEW YORK US governors appeal to the White House for a national strategy against the fast-spreading coronavirus, as deaths surge and health authorities warn the coming week could resemble a "Pearl Harbor moment." 750 words moved by Maggy Donaldson. Pictures -- ASIA -- Pakistan-health-virus-religion LAHORE Pakistani authorities are searching for tens of thousands of worshippers who attended an Islamic gathering in Lahore last month just as the novel coronavirus was taking root in the impoverished nation, officials tell AFP. 500 words moved. File picture Australia-virus-pandemic-crime SYDNEY Australian police launch a criminal investigation after thousands of passengers were allowed to disembark a coronavirus-stricken cruise ship in Sydney and 10 later died of the illness. 350 words moved Health-virus-Thailand-economy-sex,FOCUS BANGKOK A shutdown to contain the coronavirus has killed Thailand's party scene and forced sex workers like Pim out of bars and on to desolate streets. She's scared but desperately needs customers to pay her rent. 600 words moved by Aidan Jones. Picture. Video afp
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